NEFARIOUS: B723 SERIES BOOK THREE, page 23
“Can you?”
“Yep. Don’t worry about my side.”
“I want it in every color. Have it billed to my account, and I’d like matching gold jewelry with it too. Then send my daughter in here when she arrives.” My face must pale in the shitty lightning because Emmy pushes off the wall.
It’s Juliette.
I couldn’t miss that French accent even if I wanted to.
“That’s her?” I nod at my best friend, and a knife appears in front of me. Flicking my gaze to Emmy, she gestures for me to take it. “It’s Bishop’s. He wanted to be a part of it. I think he wanted all his vibes to be passed off to you even though he’d never say it like that.”
“I have my own knife,” I deadpan.
“I know. Maybe get crazy with it and use two?” The gentleness of her tone makes me grab the weapon and palm it tightly.
None of them on B723 know how to approach me with this. I don’t even know how to myself. I think they’re scared of me in a way, about how I’ll possibly crack since I don’t hide that I’m the clown of the group. Now that it’s somewhere suppressed inside me, they’re not sure how much I’ll break beneath the pressure. This looming situation that I don’t know how to get past.
Sometimes I think killing all of these women will be a very short-lived victory. That all the memories of what happened will just sink right back into place.
The only one that isn’t so bad is Amirah.
Which is funny because I seem to hate her the most, and she’s the one that did the least to me.
Maybe I expected more.
Maybe it’s because she was fake as fuck.
Maybe I wish she wasn’t, and I thought she could be saved.
That I was naive to believe her when she said she tried to get me out.
However, that was a fleeting moment because we all know what happened after that.
“I need another size,” Juliette hollers out as I clench Bishop’s blade more firmly.
Mr. Mills is going to be for just us girls. Our secret. And that’s final.
“Ma’am, your daughter is here.” My nostrils flare as I imagine Solange and Odette traipsing into the dressing room with their hair and makeup perfectly done while they drove up here in their expensive cars.
I may be able to get away with killing two of them today instead of the one to get this over with as quickly as possible.”
“Ah, ma chéri, you’re late.” I roll my eyes but said body part stops when I hear the following voice answer her.
“You summoned me, mother?”
Amirah.
My heart accelerates as the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck rise on end. She doesn’t hit me like her sisters when I want to disappear out of thin air.
In fact, I want her.
I want her more than anything.
The need to punish her until I feel better is evident, and I’ve never felt this way before. It actually scares the shit out of me.
“I did,” Juliette replies flatly. “I can’t seem to get a hold of you.”
“I’m busy,” Amirah drones, not sounding amused to be here just as much as I. That she can’t stand Juliette almost as much as me, too.
The clanking of hangers against metal hints that Juliette is still messing with whatever she’s trying on because buying overly priced dresses is too important. Apparently, this is where socialites have meetings.
“You should never be too busy for your family, Amirah,” Juliette emits sternly. “You and your brother got me into an awful argument with your father. I thought we had an agreement. We were not to bother your father about what transpired in the house a few weeks ago.“
“You mean when you kidnapped that man?” Amirah snaps back, exasperation and venom in her tone. It makes my cock twitch because it reminds me of how firey and hot she was when I broke into her penthouse the last time. The way she trembled and shivered under my touch when I pinned her to the fridge. “And I never said that I wasn’t going to open my mouth. Especially after you reneged on our said agreement. You lied to me.”
“It was best to keep you out of it, ma chéri.”
“Because you knew I’d rat you out eventually. Not because you wanted to save me from anything.”
“You don’t seem to understand this, do you?” Juliette’s tone dips, sounding like she’s speaking to an idiot. “Your father needed that blood. It was to save his life. What part of that is hard for you to comprehend?”
“The part where he didn’t want to be there and that my sisters kept raping him.” A mirthless laugh leaves Amirah’s lips, and I almost don’t recognize it. But, then again, she’s a fraud in a sweet girl’s body. Like fucking Cleopatra when she wanted an empire, so she slept with one to gain it. “Let’s not forget how they had him beaten. Did you want him to live, Ma? I mean, you’d need him for your master plan, right?”
“From my knowledge,” Juliette sneers back. “You had your fun with the boy too.”
“And I’m paying severely for that.”
Her mother scoffs. “How? Your sisters haven’t spilled a word to the authorities.”
“I got expelled from school on some bogus charges.”
“Amirah, I’ve told you time and time again that you don’t need school. You could get any man your heart desires, but you insist on making a career that may not go anywhere. Spending countless hours in books and studying, it’s ridiculous. Your looks aren’t going to last forever.”
“We’ve been over this so many times, Mom, that I’m really not going to go over it again. I lost the internship with Mina Blythe yesterday. The one I’ve been depending on to further everything. All because of your stupid ass idea.”
“Do not speak to me that way,” Juliette storms while still keeping her indoor voice. “If you would’ve kept your nose out of it, you’d be fine.”
Amirah tsks. “Yeah, maybe. But I wasn’t going to sit by and watch you bleed him out. So I took a chance…so did Laurent. And we may not have carried him out, but we tried. I don’t regret that.“
Guilt sinks into my chest, but I quickly remember what she did.
She fucking raped me.
And you came, didn’t you?
I clamp down on my teeth because if there is one part of me that I can’t stand, it's my weakness for sympathy. Amirah is clearly the underdog with her mother’s affection, and while I can’t relate to that, I still can blame her for taking what wasn’t hers.
She was telling the truth.
However, it changes nothing. Whether Amirah did try to save me, didn’t know I was in the basement at first, but when she did, she still sunk on my cock and rode me like her life depended on it.
“You should,” Juliette replies. “And now you have to reap the consequences for your actions, come what may.”
“I might have him take everything away from me.” There’s a brief silence before she speaks again. “But I know what I did. I’ll take responsibility for it. However, your devil’s spawns left me no choice. I’ll continue going to school. I will get away from—”
“I told you going to school was a waste of time and money. It’s better off this way.“
“I’m not one of your debutants that you get to flash around for some rich prick to marry. I don’t want that. I’ve told you that. My fashion career was the only thing I was in love with, and he took it from me because of you. So own up to it.”
“Me?” There is a brief silence before she says, “You’re not so innocent, I hear, according to your sisters.”
“Because of Vince,” Amirah leers. “That’s the only reason.”
Vince.
I pocket the name in my brain for later. I want to know who he is and what he has to do with anything. If he’s the thing she can’t talk to me about.
“If we all burn, at least we’ll do it together. Wearing orange would be enough torture for you.”
Juliette chuckles. “Oh, ma chéri. You should’ve listened. Instead, you went behind my back and took away your father’s lifeline that I worked tirelessly at. That I paid good money to obtain.”
“Yeah,” Amirah conveys sharply. “I did. And I can’t wait to see you hang for it one day.” A resounding slap suddenly fills the room to my left, and I jerk towards the door. Emmy stands in my way then, keeping me hidden in this space where we can hear everything and not be seen.
“You stupid girl,” her mother snarls out. “If we get turned in for this, my story will be quite different.”
The room on the other side of the wall is silent for a minute before Amirah speaks again.
“Grow up, mother. The childish, desperate act isn’t a good look for you. I’m only here because Solange and Odette have blackmail on me. All over one night, I don’t even remember.”
“You’re not better than anyone here, Amirah. You raped him just like your sisters did. I didn’t raise whores, but at least you all keep it behind closed doors.”
“What did you ask me here for? I’m not going to stand here and argue with you.” I hear her scoff. “In fact, I want out of this family. I can’t live with you, and I can barely stand the sight of you. Basing my dream on your old career was probably bound to crumble at some point. Everything evil does.”
“If you’re looking to get any sympathy from me, you’re not going to get it,” her mother recites. “You chose your own path. And you’re here to pick out a dress for the charity event we’re holding.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I can feel the heat of Amirah’s heat through the wall.
I did what I came to do. I ruined her.
But I didn’t expect for her to still be sorry behind closed doors.
“I’m not going to it,” Amirah finishes.
“You are. You will keep your father’s spirits up while we look for another donor.”
“Are you telling me you’re going to kidnap someone else?”
“If it comes to it.” I hear something crash and hit the floor, and my hand seizes the doorknob on instinct before falling away.
I’m not this woman’s savior. I’m her downfall.
“I hate you,” Amirah growls. “I hate all of you. Dad and Laurent are my only family because if you were…if Solange and Odette gave a fuck about me, I wouldn’t be suffering alone. I didn’t plan this. I didn’t want it. I never would’ve let you use Rhett Mills the way you did. I fucked him because Odette and Solange gave me no choice. First, because they wanted to play with me. The second time because they threatened my brother. Think about that when the cops call me and ask me to defend you.”
“And why would they call you?” Juliette’s voice is stricken and hard as she waits for her answer.
And I hold on to my next breath because I remember what I told her. I’d forgive her if she ratted out the bitches she apparently used to call family. Now she wants to cut ties, and I can’t blame her.
“Maybe Mills will get tired of waiting for me to do it, so he’ll do it himself.” I hear a door open, then Amirah adds in, “And that dress makes you look fat.”
Then she slams it, and I’m caught staring at the wall in her wake, all her words mixing into a confession and explanation of how. I caught more than I bargained for.
Amirah Van Doren should’ve been the one I saved last to destroy.
Not the first.
Tacos.
That was my ultimate weakness besides fashion and binge-watching fashion shows on Hulu.
Hitting the cracked pavement with purpose—which is to scarf these tacos—I climb the curb to get up the temporary building that I call home. Yesterday’s spat with Mom was everything that I thought it would be; worthless. I need to get it through my little brain that she will never understand me. Nor will she ever agree when it comes to Rhett Mills or that she’ll give a flying shit about my nonexistent fashion career.
When I get into the elevator, my mood worsens when two men step inside. Alluding to the simple fact that we’ll have to stop at more floors before I can stuff my face and problems down my throat.
However, when we reach the very top of the penthouse, the men are still in the elevator with me.
I force a smile that I’m hoping doesn’t pass up as a snide. “Forget to press your floor?”
The tallest one holds his arm out to keep the doors from closing as he glances back at me. “Feel free to lead the way.”
“I’m sorry—“ My bicep is suddenly seized by the other man to my left, who was just leaning against the wall. He thrusts me forward to move, and we’re out together within seconds. “Let go of me!”
“Key,” one of them says, and a hand thrusts hurriedly inside my small purse. I jerk back and away just for my spine to hit a solid and unyielding chest.
The familiar beep of my door’s lock sounds, and I’m shoved through the threshold.
My tacos—my freshly prepared and mouth-watering tacos—are rudely dropped to the floor as I bolt down the hallway to my bedroom to lock the door.
I hear the warning thuds of running footsteps behind me, causing my breathing to come out to becoming barely anything at all. My palm finds the door frame, and I’m about to clear the room when a body knocks into mine, sending me stumbling forward.
I’m swooped up in the next second, an arm wrapping around my waist as I’m heaved into the air, tossed onto my bed like a rag doll. My legs kick on instinct as I bounce to a halt, getting onto my elbows to back away.
“You’re going to be fun,” one of the men says, coming into my full focus with short dirty blond hair and a pink scar running potently down the side of his left cheek.
“Who are you?” I blurt out before he grips one of my ankles and yanks me back towards him. I finally reward him with a kick to his gut, and that’s when he practically tackles me. His weight, though I didn’t think there would be much, knocking the wind out of my chest. “You’re a pretty thing.”
“Fuck off,” I scream, shoving at his shoulders as his hand pries between my opened thighs that are straddled around his sides.
I hear the ripping of fabric, my panties being wrenched from my legs as a fresh wave of panic cripples me in fear.
“Solange says hi.” His whisper warmly brushes the side of my cheek, and everything but betrayal stops.
Those three words sink so quickly and disturbingly in my head that I believe them.
Without a doubt.
I begin to thrash around some more, slamming my fists into his back and trying to connect with everything and anything I can, but my wrists are suddenly caught and pinned above my head.
The other man decided to come in and join the paid fun my sister sent my way.
“Why?” I holler out.
“Who knows,” the man on top of me conveys. “And who the fuck cares?” I pull my legs up again when he moves back to discard my underwear and try to smash his balls.
“Get the hell off me!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Help!”
A hot palm covers my mouth and some of my nose, delivering another course of fear traipsing through me.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t think.
I can’t move.
“Solange wants video proof,” the one above me informs, and my stomach curls painfully into tight knots.
They’re going to rape me; apparently, that’s the theme we’re going with these days. And maybe, just maybe, this is what I get for not accepting the consequences for my actions with Vince and having Mills become the collateral damage of my decisions.
However, my own sister planning something like this just because Dad reamed her ass out, like seriously? I really mean nothing to them?
“Damn, she has the softest skin.” Now holding my thighs down, the man brushes his thumb back and forth like he’s memorized by how I feel.
I don’t know how Mills blocked this part out. How he didn’t puke everywhere when I rode him, and he didn’t want it. How I chose me over him—twice.
The hand still covering my mouth doesn’t let up, and I try to focus on breathing other than the other man’s fingers. He’s dangerously close to where I don’t want him to be, and it does nothing to help the shaky inhales and exhales through my nose.
“Fuck her, and let’s go,” barks the other man without a view. “And if she’s sweet, I’ll pump a few—“ A piercing gunshot rings through the space of my room, rattling right to my bones.
My mouth is suddenly free, and I only get a whole deep intake of air before the man’s fingers between my legs disappear too.
I fumble to sit up, all my limbs shaking uncontrollably, but I force my brain to function so I can get out and to the elevator.
But when my eyes connect with the door, I see him.
I watch him pull his bulging arm back and thrust it into one of the man’s jaw. I make out the profound anger in his expression. One I’ve received at every occasion we’ve seen each other.
Rhett Mills is in my bedroom—beating the shit out of the man who held me down.
Who was going to videotape raping me for my sister.
The asshole finally falls to the floor with a heavy thud, and my eyes flick to the predator who just saved me from a fate he was familiar with. That he went through God knows how many times with not only me but my Odette and Solange.
It’s like I summoned him in my head.
“Rus.” My name is a throaty sigh of relief. I can’t think of another way to describe it, but I can’t pull my focus away. He locks me in, and I don’t want to be let free because I oddly feel safe in his regard.
He holds out his hand for me to take, and I silently take it without hesitation. Then, when my knees grip the edge of the bed, I begin to glance over my shoulder when Mills’s fingers quickly grasp onto my jaw to keep me facing him.
“We’re gonna move rooms,” he tells me softly but sternly. “And you’re gonna stay there until I say. Got it?”
I gape at him because this is the same man who despises me, right? The one who threatens me and demands actions I’ll never perform against my selfish mother and two inhuman siblings. Ones that I should because no amount of justice served will ever be enough for what they’ve done to the people I love.
Or Mills.
